


The little tea shop

by Rach4040



Category: Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: M/M, but i miss my two baby chicks together, guanlins a trainee but seonho isnt, i had a bunch of stuff headcannoned but most of it didnt make it into the chapter?, idk what this is dont mind me, is that a thing? idk, seonhos working at a tea shop, tea shop... AU?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-13
Updated: 2017-08-17
Packaged: 2018-12-01 17:48:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11491488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rach4040/pseuds/Rach4040
Summary: Lai Guanlin is tired from practice when one day he visits a small tea shop on his way home, finding himself rather infatuated with the boy behind the counter.





	1. Chapter 1

The first time Lai Guanlin, a taiwanese boy of sixteen years living and studying in Korea in order to fulfill his dreams of becoming a singer, enters the petit tea shop is on a cold spring evening. He’s walking home from the practice rooms to his dorm, struggling to keep his eyes open while his mind is going a mile a minute, spurred on by the copious amounts of coffee he’s consumed today. Catching only a few hours of sleep per night for almost two weeks now has worn him out quite a bit, but practicing to become an idol as well as learning a new language and keeping up with schoolwork takes up most of his time. His alarm tone seems to become louder and shriller every time he hears it, furthering the headache Guanlin is constantly suffering from. 

He almost walks past the small shop, but as soon as he registers the characters he sees from the corner of his eyes skillfully written in the display windows as Chinese he stops in his tracks immediately. He turns towards the windows to get a better look, one hand coming up to rub over his tired eyes. It is, in fact, his mother tongue written there in colourful paint, along with the Korean and English words for ‘tea’, as well as what he assumes is Japanese. Inside the windows different types of tea and tea pots are displayed, tastefully arranged and a few plants and flowers here and there as decoration. 

Guanlin doesn’t remember having walked towards the door, but before he knows it a small bell chimes overhead, meaning to alert the person behind the counter, in this case a teenaged boy. A set of glasses sit dangerously low on the bridge of his nose, wide, friendly eyes shining behind them. This, along with his soft cheeks, make him seem quite young, maybe about Guanlin’s age. A piece of what appears to be dried fruit partly sticks out of his mouth. Guanlin makes his way to the counter, taking in the ambience. The shop seems larger on the inside, cozy sofas and armchairs forming small lounging areas. Shelves are pushed to the walls, showcasing different kinds of tea in colourful boxes and beautiful tea sets, elegant tea pots with their respective petit cups on display to be marveled at by visitors. The scent of tea is in the air, along with a certain humidity, as if a pot of water had just finished boiling in the room. When Guanlin arrives at the counter, the shop assistant has already gotten up from the chair he’d been sitting on before and finished chewing and swallowing his snack. “Hello, how can I help you today?” he greets Guanlin, voice cheery and gaze friendly. 

Guanlin’s taken aback at first by his happy demeanour but quickly catches himself and answers: “Hi, yeah, I’d like a cup of…” He quickly scans the menu, a piece of laminated paper lying on top of the counter, eyes focusing on their selection of Taiwanese green teas. He’s glad everything is written in Chinese as well, he isn’t sure he’d have found what he was looking for if the menu had only been in Korean. Reading the Korean alphabet still takes some effort for Guanlin, so he looks at the Chinese characters first and then reads the Korean written next to them. “I’d like a cup of… Dragon Well Tea, please.” He sends a small smile at the shop assistant.

“Sure! I’ll have it ready in a second, you can have a seat wherever you’d like!” He smiles back encouragingly, then turns around to the large shelf behind him and pulls the chair he’d been sitting on before towards himself, standing on top of it while his eyes skim over the different kinds of tea, fingertips wandering over the boxes as well. Guanlin is slightly worried about the boy, who seems to be almost too enthusiastic in his actions, but he goes to sit down on a large, comfortable sofa anyways. When he looks around again he sees the boy safely returning to solid ground, a light green box of tea in his hands. Assured that he won’t be witnessing the boy breaking his neck by falling from the chair anytime soon Guanlin rests his head on the table in front of him. It’s a little too low to be comfortable but he decides he’ll manage until he gets his tea. He closes his eyes and listens to the sounds of the shop, faintly he hears the cars drive by outside. However, more prominent are the noises inside the shop, his own breathing the loudest in his ears. Soft music is playing in the background, volume low. He can hear water heating up, bubbling in the pot. The other boy’s clothes make tiny sounds when he moves and Guanlin feels strangely comforted by that. He takes in the fragrant scent of tea again, breathing deeply. Dried tea leaves clink against a porcelain cup, shortly after water gurgles as it’s poured into the cup as well.

He remains like this, nearly falling asleep until he hears dishes clinking together. When he sits up a mug of tea is sitting in front of him, tea leaves floating in the steaming water. Additionally, there’s a small plate with a piece of cake on top next to his cup. He looks up at the boy, mumbling a sleepy “Sorry, I don’t think I ordered the cake?”, words slurring together slightly, his accent coming out thicker than usual.

“Ah, yes, you didn’t. You just seemed like you needed a small pick me up. Also, you saved me from having to do my maths homework by coming in so I basically owe you my life. The cake’s on the house,” he says with a sunny smile a few shades too bright for Guanlin’s bleary mind. “I’m Seonho, by the way. If you need anything else just call me, okay? And there’s more hot water by the counter as well, should you want a refill!”

It’s a little too much information all at once, so Guanlin gives a smile and a small “Thanks, Seonho” in response. 

 

He leaves the tea shop about half an hour later, having refilled his cup twice. Both times he’d gone up to the counter to pour more hot water into his cup, Seonho looked up from what Guanlin assumed to be the dreaded maths homework, friendly smile on display, asking how the cake is and if the tea is good. Guanlin can only respond with a smile and a nod, mumbling a “Goodbye” on his way out.

 

Later that night Guanlin’s lying awake, staring at the underside of the mattress in the bunk above his. He doesn’t know why, but he thinks of Seonho, of the happy glint in his eyes, the way he seemed all so enthusiastic to see someone enter the store. How his cheeks looked incredibly soft, his hands handling the cup of tea with care, long fingers gracefully setting it on the table in front of Guanlin. Seonho’s smile still shined in his mind, bright and happy. He’s brought back to reality by one of his roommates’ snoring. _Get it together_ , he tells himself. He didn’t come all the way to Korea to crush on someone, did he? To say he had a crush might even be a little extreme. Maybe more of an infatuation, he didn’t really know Seonho after all.

Guanlin sighs, then turns towards the wall, letting himself be lured to sleep by the snores of his roommates he has grown so accustomed to, willing himself not to think about the bright boy in the tea shop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello ^^  
> congratulations, youve made it til the end! this is my first work for wanna one, so the characterization might be a bit off n.n also pls note english isnt really my first language, so sorry for any mistakes (tell me if theres anything wrong!)  
> come talk to me on tumblr @ rach-4040  
> would anyone want another chapter of this? i might write sth so... stay tuned?  
> thanks for reading, any kudos + comments are appreciated! <3


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soon Guanlin had started frequenting the little tea shop, usually later at night when practice had ended and he needed a little peace and quiet before returning to his dorm filled with other young, boisterous men. During Guanlin’s third visit, Seonho, who seemed to always work the evening shift, approached the table Guanlin had settled down at with two pieces of cake instead of only one.

Soon Guanlin had started frequenting the little tea shop, usually later at night when practice had ended and he needed a little peace and quiet before returning to his dorm filled with other young, boisterous men. During Guanlin’s third visit, Seonho, who seemed to always work the evening shift, approached the table Guanlin had settled down at with two pieces of cake instead of only one. 

“Hope you don’t mind?” he said, then promptly sat down and started eating without waiting for a reply. Guanlin stared at Seonho for a second or two, then started eating himself. The boy now sat opposite him seemed nice enough, always offering him some kind of pastry or baked good for free along with bright smiles. When Guanlin looked up again he realized Seonho was now looking at him, having finished his own piece of cake. Well, Seonho seemed more focused on what was left of Guanlin’s slice.

Wordlessly he slid over his plate, offering the other his unfinished cake. Seonho beamed, pushed up his glasses that had started to slip off the bridge of his nose and then reached out to pull Guanlin’s plate closer towards himself, tucking in immediately. Guanlin watched the other wolf down the pastry in record time, not stopping to chew or breathe, it seemed. 

“You must have been hungry,” Guanlin commented. 

“A little. I didn’t have a snack with me today, so I thought I could sit down with you for a bit and eat something together! There are no other customers here at this hour anyways.” Seonho sent him a smile, then stacked the empty plates on top of each other, using a napkin to wipe any crumbs off the table. “But why do you always only come in so late?” His eyes were big and curious, and Guanlin couldn’t help but think that Seonho was pretty cute.

“I’m… I’m a trainee at a company. The practice rooms aren’t far from here and I usually don’t get out before this time.” He smiled back at Seonho shyly. 

Seonho’s eyes grew even wider, then he exclaimed: “You’re a trainee? That’s so cool! What do you do?” Guanlin considered himself rather lucky to be the only customer at the moment, as Seonho’s inside voice needed some working on. He was about to reply with a tentative ‘Rap’, but Seonho cut him off. “Wait, don’t tell me!” He looked Guanlin over, scanning his face, upper body and arms, even jokingly attempting to look at Guanlin’s legs under the table. Guanlin blushed a dark red, shuffling his feet. “Hmm… Maybe a dancer? You still have a bit of an accent, so maybe you know some sick moves instead!” Seonho wriggled with his eyebrows, looking absolutely ridiculous. “You’re quite handsome as well, so I guess you were cast as a visual as well.”

“Ah, thank you. But I’m a rapper, actually,” Guanlin replied, unsure of what else to say.

“Oooh, a rapper?” Seonho wriggled his eyebrows again, still looking like an idiot, “A swaggy rapper then? That’s super cool as well! Do you write your own raps and stuff? What language do you write them in?”

The night went on like that for a little longer, Seonho asking question after question and Guanlin growing more relaxed and comfortable, answering all of Seonho’s questions and asking some of his own whenever he managed to get a word in. Eventually, however, Guanlin had to head back to the dorms and Seonho had to close the shop for the night, but not before hugging the older boy goodbye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello ^^ im sorry it took me so long to post this! there might actually be more soon but idk yet, i had some stuff in mind that didnt come up.  
> im also not really sure abt this chapter, it feels like more of a filler chapter and a bit boring and just super short and... yeah. idk, dont mind me ^^ but tell me what you thought, comments are greatly appreciated!  
> also, pls note that english isnt my first language, so if you see any very obvious horrible mistakes tell me, it actually helps me improve my english as well! (also its 6am and i havent slept yet pls have mercy)  
> and the characterization might be a little off, tell me if i wrote complete crap ok?  
> ok, anyways, thank you so much for reading, im sorry for this overly long note, have a good day!~

**Author's Note:**

> Hello ^^  
> congratulations, youve made it til the end! this is my first work for wanna one, so the characterization might be a bit off n.n also pls note english isnt really my first language, so sorry for any mistakes (tell me if theres anything wrong!)  
> come talk to me on tumblr @ rach-4040  
> would anyone want another chapter of this? i might write sth so... stay tuned?  
> thanks for reading, any kudos + comments are appreciated! <3


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